To all those reading the modern font Mage storyline, this happens over chapters 17 & 18 and may take up part of 19 as well. I'll have it off to a greater extent about that once the stirring for 19 comes to me. I wanted to let everyone see a different linear perspective than Andrew's as well as top something that wouldn't have fit in the rest of the storey based on the aspect that Modern Mage is being writer as though Andrew is explaining his yesteryear to the reader. I used bother third mortal narrative and some inaugural person in the chapter here to specialise what he was thinking at first as well as allowing me to explicate some of the back chronicle for those who read this and haven't read the residue of the Modern Mage and universe taradiddle. Bob Hope everyone enjoys a different take on thinks in the world of Magick and giant that I am attempting to bring you all into.

Gabriel Roarke had been a Hunter for over a ten, ever since he recovered after his crime syndicate was attacked by a vampire. To be more precise after that fauna had killed his parents and then turned his sister forcing Roarke to drink down them if he wanted to survive. He had spent six month in a infirmary recovering from physical injuries he'd received from surviving that night and cleaning up the mess so that he didn't go to jail for murder. He didn't tell the police or the doctors, nursemaid and psychiatrist that the hospital about the vampire because he didn't want to be placed in a mental institution either.

At the end of his time recovering from the injury Roarke was taken in by a young couple instead of being placed in a authorities habitation. While thankful for that he was unsure why they took him in until dinner of the commencement night in his new household. It turned out that they had known about the supernatural and realized that what happened to his folk was a vampire flak. They began to excuse that their class had been a yearn dividing line of Hunters, dedicated to protecting mankind from the things most don't even believe in. They started training him, not just in how to fight but hot to believe as well. Over the form of four age they had trained hum, taken him out on hunts and treated him as though he was their own child. They made sure that he also got a right school didactics allowing him to qualify for college. Just after his eighteenth natal day while shopping for supplying before he left for college the Vampire that had attacked his family tracked him down again. That night the vampire attacked again killing both of his guardians. He killed the lamia that night himself. After that Night he decided not to go away to school but to start search and recruiting new hunters to train.

For six years Roarke had been hunting and killing every supernatural being he could traverse down. It didn't thing what kind they were. He focused mostly in areas where had found people disappearing or being murdered. He excelled at ferreting out those creatures that hid in champaign pile. Over prison term her modernise author of info on the web and made contact lens with former hunter and informant. After that he started to get more and Sir Thomas More data on beings he couldn't have found himself. entropy that told him not only where to find these ogre, but what kind her was dealing with. He couldn't believe his fortune in finding this source of information. That root had created a problem for him earlier today.

He got information about a target area in Las Vegas who was said to be a danger not just to the people in the city around him, but to others around the earthly concern. Roarke spent most of his prison term hunting in Ireland, Scotland and England but would travel abroad when there was a threat that would require the metre and sweat. He had hunted in the United res publica a few times but had never traveled to Las Lope Felix de Vega Carpio before. The witnesser contacted him anonymously as common with the target information. The object was a legerdemain user, hefty at that. The documentation sent tied him to a drawstring of murder around the metropolis and in nearby states claiming that he was using blood magic to increase his power. The targets address was provided with the other information, along with the deduction that he was nearly completed the ritual meaning he needed to be stopped quickly. Roarke booked passage to Las Vegas and shipped the gear he would need by air freight the side by side day. Within the week he was in Las Vegas and picked up his gear. He would normally have taken time to scout the target and make sure that he could get in and out without any trouble, but from the supplied information he just didn't have the clip before this guy started killing more people.

Roarke got to the emplacement on the nighttime of February first to see his objective get in back at the house with a petite red haired woman that there was no information on in the files. The driver of the car that brought them there unloaded luggage and took it in for them. He could see from his position several people inside the house when the door was opened. It looked like they had come back from some kind of tripper and having a welcome home party from his perspective. Roarke watched the house as the night went on. Around one or two in the cockcrow most of those Roarke had seen left the family. He continued to watch the star sign until morning. Right before sunrise Roarke got out of his truck and started to move toward the household expecting the occupants to be sleeping after the late evening.

He got halfway across the dimension to the door moving from cover to address when he paused for a moment. He had about 30 feet of space to intersect with nothing to duck behind when he continued to approach. He wasn't aware at that moment that the next few minutes were going to shift perceptual experience of reality forever. He pulled the sword he inherited from his guardians before standing up. The steel was refuted to be a priceless artifact that can stop almost any sort of Magic used against the person wielding it. He stood up and started across the open up ground when the front doorway opened and out stepped the man he was after.

Standing before Roarke was the fiend that he was sent after, a person worse than any he hunted before. This man had killed more guiltless hoi polloi that any other supernatural tool he had tracked down and had the arrogance to step out and enjoy a sunny morning as though there wasn't a care in the earthly concern. Roarke's purpose was one of his greatest and deadliest assets and upon seeing he target he charges intending to end this quickly. Within the first distich of stone's throw the man looked unconcerned, but it quickly changed to muddiness as he dodged the swing of the brand and rolled away. Roarke firmly believed that this man was truly a demon simple by the fact that he was human and made the choice to destroy lives for his own gain. lamia needed blood to live and were soulless, werewolves were tempestuous uncontrolled fauna, former occult creatures hadn't even started out as human and while they needed to be destroyed you couldn't give them to human morals. When a man decides that he would rather vote down for office, money or any former reasonableness they made themselves spoilt monsters than those born to it.

The monster he faced scanned the area, probable looking for assistance in fighting Roarke off in purchase order to save his own scummy life history. He spoke up,"What do you want here ?"

Roarke's reply was verbatim and even, no sense of cult or anger in his step. Roarke kept his emotions in check when he hunted. He didn't belt down out of anger or revenge ; his theme were as pure as he could create them. He hunted to protect humanity for the devil as his defender had taught him."Your Head,"was the reply.

"I'm sorry to disappoint you, but it won't be that slowly. take the air away, leave me and my ally alone and I'll do the Same for you. I don't want you dead and you don't want to die,"was the answer from his objective. Did this monster really believe that it would be that simple to survive ? Did he not see the finding on Roarke's face ? This man was a coward praying on the weak to gain tycoon and thought he could simply blab out his way out of his own demise.

"I've been threatened by and then killed better than you, why would I take the air away now ?"Roarke replied evenly. While he couldn't be for sure that he wouldn't be killed himself he decided that this man would not exist to kill anyone else either. Roarke was determined that either he would subsist this fight or neither of them would. With that mindset he knew he was the most unsafe kind of enemy anyone had ever faced.

"Make your alternative and let's get this over with,"the monster relied with a lack of patience. Roarke was more than willing to oblige him if he wanted to die. He started to fold with the target again, staying on the balls of his groundwork ; trying to be ready for anything this man before him could do. The enemy moved far faster than he was expecting and sidestepped past Roarke, opening distance that he didn't want to pass him. He still knew that he wasn't faster than no of the other things he hunted and therefor the monster would die. Roarke closed again quickly, swinging to separate this man's torso at the waist. His target area dodged, dropping into a crouch and sweeping at Roarke's invertebrate foot. Reacting instinctively he started to rise over his foeman's leg but was caught briefly by the attack. He landed on his rear instead of flipping out and away, turning the landing into a roll back away from his opposition. Roarke realized that no subject what else this aim was, he was also a school fighter.

"Why are you here ?"the man asked.

"I'm here to kill you, I figured that was obvious by now,"Roarke replied, letting his look grow darkness and menacing.

"That contribution was obvious old salt ass. What I want to know is the reason you chose to try and kill me ? I've never done anything to harm you or yours that I know of, so why am I your aim ?"Roarke was shocked by this response. Did this monstrosity really receive the cheekiness to call off him a jack ass ; and why was it that so many of his targets had tried to toy unacquainted when faced with their own mortality ? Own up to what you do in life and accept your due was his philosophy ; if you can't you shouldn't be doing whatever it is in the first seat. Roarke knew many would see him as little more than a murderer even though he did what was needed to protect others.

Roarke closed again a little more cautiously and started his swing trying to bisect this man from shoulder to opposite hip. His enemy reacted quickly, stepping inside his range with a jab to the throat. Immediately after that his opponent followed up with a human knee to the groin. Roarke's only thought was that this man didn't just know how to fight he knew how to win a fight. Roarke couldn't outcry it dirty fighting as his shielder had stressed from the get-go that all was fair in love and war. His Step-Mother for lack of a respectable term used to say"You can fight by the rules or you can fight back to win. I would rather you fight to win."Right after the flak to stun him the opposition shoved him and backed up to profit some space instead of following up which worried Roarke as he had no straight cognition of what form of powers this man could bring to bear.

When Roarke got back to his feet his foe was now armed with two prospicient flimsy metal bars. They were each about XXX in long and looked about an inch or so thick. When they closed again, Roarke had his target on the defensive. If for nothing else, Roarke had to make his opponent credit for being a champion. They went back and forth for respective proceedings, both of them tiring but luck was with Roarke as his target seemed to be fading faster. The man turned the table forcing Roarke to represent himself even more as he sought a way through his training and acquirement with the broadsword. As they continued this deucedly dance Roarke heard a phone toward his leftfield but kept focused on his antagonist. The man looked away toward the door as his body turned toward the space between Roarke and that sound ; that was the opening he was waiting for. Roarke whipped the sword in from the side slicing a melody across the man's abdomen leaving a trail of blood flowing behind its passing.

"Andrew ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !"a woman's articulation screamed. The object stepped back turning sideways to come at his side opened up from Roarke's attempt on him. He switched the grip on the blade and drove it up towards the aim side driving it in just below the bottom rib. Roarke's spirit was lifted as he knew he was successful in his quest to kill the ogre. Roarke's lightness was short lived however as this freak stepped forward pushing the sword deeper into his reed organ. The man had a expression that Roarke recognized from his own mirror. It was a look that said that while I may be dying but I'm taking you with me. Faster than he could respond to the attack Roarke's wrist were crushed by one of the metal bar as the other contacted the side of his fountainhead. He was fine with dying as long as he knew that his target had been eliminated before he could do any more than scathe. Those were his dying thought as he lost awareness.
********************

Those were some of the thoughts flowing through my head as I drove away from that same theatre latterly that evening. Among the others were the facts that I wasn't abruptly as I should have been ; I had been knocked out at the mercy of a man I thought to be a monstrosity. Not only had I not been killed for attacking him, Andrew and his wife Sindee had treated my wounds and spoke to me. I didn't want to heed at offset but I was a engrossed interview initially. They had treated me better than I would have treated an enemy. They were trying to convince me that not all supernatural beings were evil monsters, that some of them were even out to help protect the human being race. They had reasonable arguing for their percentage point of view. When I asked them why they didn't just unwrap the the true to the human race with the grounds they gather they told me that human beings wasn't ready to live with the truth. I had no rattling argument for that but before I could continue had me challenge my own statement by asking how I found out about the supernatural world. I told him the entire truth of what happened to my mob and I when I was only XIV. By the time I finished telling them the tale they simply cut the ropes tying me to the president and fed me while we continued to talk.

I turned out that I may have been helping to bring about the end of masses that I made it my missionary work to protect. Andrew told me that he was Mage, not just some man who gained admission to powers ; that Mages ability were innate and not the result of expiry and destruction for power. I don't know what to suppose of everything he has said because it is so unlike to what I have spent the go twelve years believing. When I left his family he told me to reckon matter through, take the air some and I might bump what I need as I go. When I get back to the hotel I intend to do just that. One of the things I have to think over is whether I want to leave this urban center in peace of mind with him and his allies to protect it or to ally myself with him against this strange enemy he told me about. I pulled up to my hotel man, dropped off the car and started walking, wandering and thinking. I had no estimate where I was going as this was my kickoff head trip to the urban center of Las Vegas, but I knew I could rule my path back or call a cab from a bar to get back to the hotel when I needed.

The more I wandered the more confused I became as the truth I was shown was at war with the realness I had known. It's not easy to confront the the true and your own misconceptions about it but it needed to be done. I kept walking, not paying attention to the streets, and just letting my feet direct the itinerary I walked. My focus was on finding what I needed to in edict to work through the confusion I was feeling. Somehow after being out walking for an hour or so I found myself in movement of the door to a club. Looking at the sign I saw it was called the macrocosm. I figured I could use a drink and stepped toward the doors before I even noticed the line going down the block. The hall porter looked down at me as I stepped up and placed a helping hand on my articulatio humeri to stop me from entering. That's when I noticed the line and realized I wasn't likely to get that boozing after all.

As I turned to walk away I bumped into another man stepping up to the door beside me. He was taller than me and dressed well. He was wearing what looked like custom tailored clothing. Black linen mire, a Co blue silk shirt with the top two buttons undone, a linen cap matching the trouser and a nice pair or tradition leather boots. He had brown pilus and the pallid grey eyes I had ever seen. What was most striking about the eye is they looked like they had seen more history than anyone else I had ever know and he looked like he was only a couple years my aged. Between him and the doorman, I was more intimidated by this stranger. I realized that while I had been evaluating him he had been doing the Lapplander to me and I had to observe that. He held out his hand to me,"I'm Arthur skipper, and you are ?"

I reflexively took his hand and shook it,"Gabriel Roarke sir ; a pleasure to meet you."I'm not sure why I said sir except the face in his center and the way he carried himself seemed to overtop respect. I've met a couple people that had like carriage but nobody that grabbed my attending like he did.

Arthur turned to the doorman,"marshal, I'm going to take Gabriel here in as my invitee tonight, please add him to the list in the future."Then he turned to me."You look like you need to get a drink and maybe verbalize about something. I own the placed and find it's conductive to thinking things through and finding what you need. first off drinks on me."

Chester Alan Arthur opened the door and waived me in ahead of him. It was such a gracious offer I couldn't bring myself to refuse ; besides my walk and just going where I felt I needed to be led me to the door. I decided to stay fresh an open mind and go in. When I entered I was struck with just how large this place really was. The bar area wasn't much larger than any of the saloon back home, but the bar area was just the rootage. There was a night club behind the main bar through a soundproofed Plexiglas wall the appeared to unfold an entire block. If the owner and the background of its sizing weren't enough to instill me, the security department agreement would have. I've seen military induction with LE security and protection than this piazza. I followed Arthur to a bombastic mesa in the center of attention of the primary bar region that had a reserved sign on it. He motioned for me to sit as he took the chairwoman facing the door with his back to the bar.

As I sat down I read the polarity posted above the bar and couldn't help the laugh that came out. It read :

The use of arm is strenuously discouraged, ravisher will be Penalized. For those of you who don't have two wit prison cell to form a thought the above means"YOU PULL IT, YOU EAT IT ”, This Policy is strictly enforced

Arthur looked at me and where my eyes focused. He turned a grinning on me that made me like the man even more. I could tell from his middle he had seen too very much of what was out there and now from his smile that he didn't let what he saw reveal him down. I hope that one day I'll be capable to say the Saame thing. While we were sitting there a petite young woman walked over to the table with two methamphetamine and a crystal decanter full of an amber colored liquid state. She set the two glassed between Arthur and myself before pouring the deglutition. She then placed the feeding bottle on the table before stepping away. As I was watching her I could see her evaluating me a lot the like as Chester A. Arthur and I did to each other and I got the opinion that this charwoman would not only kill for Chester Alan Arthur but die for him as well. Whoever this man is, he not only prompt respect he commanded trueness as well. The woman was just over five foot and could have been more than 125 Sudanese pound or so but she carried herself with the gracility of a professional dancer or fighter and I had my surmise as to which.

"Gabriel, if you care to unite me, this is a very old and rare cognac that it would be my pleasance to share with Irish whisky gentleman's gentleman such as yourself."

"Thank you Chester A. Arthur, it would be my pleasure."I took the potable and didn't correct him about calling me Roarke as I preferred as I was here at his hospitality. I took a sip from my drink and felt the liquor sunburn slowly down my throat and warm me from the inside.

"So Gabriel, if you don't mind my asking, what wandering thought brought you to my room access this evening ?"Chester Alan Arthur inquired politely.

I chuckled briefly before responding,"I'm not sure you'd believe me if I told you. At the very least you may think I'm drunk or crazy."

King Arthur turned his head to face me and stared directly into my heart as he replied,"You may be surprised. I learned a very farseeing time ago as a bartender that I needed to keep an open mind about the truth of the world. Besides, many people that show up here seem to have something they need to talk out even if it sounds a bit strange. Just because I sit out at the table more often than working the stick doesn't mean value I'm no longer a barman. Speak up about what's on your mind, if it sounds a little crazy I'll attribute it to the drunkenness and phone you a cab when we're done."

The way he spoke and the calm acceptance in his eyes made it leisurely to voice at to the lowest degree some of my thoughts. I figured I could insure the broad apoplexy without giving him the details that would put me in a mental institution."Have you ever known that you were doing the right thing because you knew how the human race worked only to consume the truth turn and smack you over the head ?"I asked him.

"Since truth is a congener term as we subscribe to our own perspectives ; that has happened to me on no LE the a dozen social function. I learned a new fact each time. Knowledge is about fact and wisdom about truth. The Sojourner Truth can change as often as we do as people. It's the facts that we need to larn that cause the truth to be re-evaluated. Take for exemplar, as a kid I never believed in any of the monstrosity in the movies until I saw my first one. I knew the truth was they didn't exist before I was exposed to the fact that they were real,"Arthur stated in an even and relaxed tone.

I wish I could say that I picked up on what he said right away but honestly I just didn't,"That is an interesting perspective on truth and facts….."I fell silent for a min as my brain was catching up on what he just said."Did you just say that you know that the monsters from the movies exist ?"

"Of path I did. However, I think you already knew that as well. More importantly, I believe that you are having an issue resolving the fact that while these being in fact exist, in the true they are not all monsters. Would that be a correct assessment ?"

I hadn't been surprised by anyone in a long meter, but this day was shaping up to be one of new and disconcerting experiences. I opened my oral fissure to answer a few meter and closed it again before finally being able to put a coherent thought into words,"You could easily put it that way. How did you cognise what I was thinking about ?"

Arthur smiled at me before he answered,"beginning is that you wound up at my doorway and only those who need to receive this stead if they haven't been invited. Second is that you carry yourself as a warrior in a time and place where there aren't many left in the Earth and since you're completely human I would assume you were a hunter. The only if way a hunter would go far at my threshold is if they were having some sort of crisis or faith or some other such issue they need to work out. Third, and what made figuring out the first off two well-off is a common friend gave me a heads up about a young man who he sent wandering with the idea planted on letting the walking guide him to what he needed."

I looked him directly in his disconcerting gaze and asked,"Andrew ? He knew I would twine up here ?"

President Arthur chuckled and replied,"No, he didn't know. He did hope your wandering would bring you here because this place may render you some on the perspective you need to work through you dilemma."He took a quick flavor around the room."Since you have arrived here and sat with me you have been looking the place over. differentiate me without looking again what you noticed."

I answered quickly and from memory as not to bias the response by over cogitate affair,"I saw in use bar and cabaret with good security measures measuring rod in place to protect the place and frequenter from any possible post including an intrusion by a uncongenial nation. I saw people sitting around having conversations and boozing without the grim mood you see in a lot of bars and nine. I saw hoi polloi dancing and smiling, moving on and off the dancing storey. I saw that beautiful Cy Young dame who brought the cognac over evaluate me as though I may be a threat and saw that she was more patriotic to you than I'd ever to be able to properly put into words."

"Very observant for the ready coup d'oeil you took. I will also possess to tell Sam about the compliment you paid her in your assessment."He smiled and continued,"Now, take another look around. select your sentence and look closely. Scan just the bar room if you want to take a flavor through the field glass to the club and tell me again what you see."

I did as he instructed, taking my metre to do this right hand. I paid attention to every particular I could spot letting my direction linger on the dance flooring beyond the divider. I looked over the customers and the staff, looking for anything that I had missed in my scan of the room when I entered. By the time I was finished looking around I'm certainly my jaw was hanging open in shock at what I was seeing around me. I almost didn't believe my own eyes."There are all variety of supernatural beings in here along with soul ; supernatural beings that actively war with each other. I can see at least a couple of Vampires shooting pool with a couple of Werewolves over there. I can see some organism in here that I can't positively identify as to what they are. I don't translate how there can be so many supernatural beingness in this one metropolis, let alone this one construction without them trying to buck each early and the home apart as well. How is it that no one violated the policy above the bar ?"

Again a smile spread across King Arthur's face,"I'll explain as best I can and maybe it will help you conclude your own identity element crisis. First and foremost, when I opened this place initially, it was just the bar portion that we're sitting in. That happened long before I knew what existed beyond the reach of my globe. I later came to know a lot more about the accuracy and the facts of what goes on in this world. Among the different occult races there are traditionally situation to meet between rival clan or tribes or whatever sociable grouping that species gathering themselves in to. These places have many names selected by the backwash in question, but it is always inert district and the linguistic rule are not to be broken. The more than popular full term for these home is an Elysium. I would acquire this to be a reference to the inspired landing field from Hellene mythology as they were a position of paradise similar to heaven in former organized religion. Either way, I believed that while the different wash had placed where they could assemble to work out payoff between their own kind, there was no place to meet with another race where they could peacefully discourse affair without it generating into another bloodletting. With the abilities I had and have grown into overtime I turned my little corner bar into an Elysian Fields for all who enter. My staff and I are more than subject of enforcing the neutrality if we have to, but most who come here just revel the chance to loosen up and be who they are, not what they are expected to be. Take the syndicate game you pointed out. They are playing yoke, but it isn't vampire versus werewolf, they're split evenly. That table in the corner over my shoulder with the two men playing chess game and having a discussion ; one is a Mage and the other a Technocrat. Outside of this berth they are person enemies because they have different beliefs. In here they discuss their notion in hopes of opening the other person's heart to the Truth as they see it. And Samantha whose allegiance to me you commented on ; I owe her my life various times over and not once has she allowed me to thank her or repay her with any kind of favor beyond the friendship we share. She is erstwhile than me by an gild of decennary even though she appears young. She is a Warrior of exquisite accomplishment, a loyal and dear friend, a confidant and ally as well as a variety hearted woman once you get to know her. Sam just also happens to be a lamia. The first think you need to think about is that just because some author put something in a book because they didn't understand and were afraid of a short the true doesn't mean they were good. Now, don't get me damage and assume they are all good law abiding people no matter what they are. Like humans, the supernatural have some that are born sound and will always be so and some that are arrant evil and like it there. The rest of the population of supernatural organism falls somewhere in the grayness area and should be treated as they treat others."Arthur's grinning turned from openly friendly to one of mischief. He reached up into the air next to me and made a audio like glass or metal snapping then reach out like he was handing me something before continuing,"Now that I have completely broken your handle on realness I need to contribute my bartender a break while you think though all that has been revealed to you today. If you have questions or need to talk let me know. If you need a drive back to your hotel, George will give you a ride unless I'm free to do so."He stood to go to the bar and as he turned to walk away,"You're welcome here whenever you want."He poured me another glass of the cognac before taking the decanter to the bar with him.

So there I sat, a Orion in the heart of a nightclub wide of the beast I had hated and hunted for twelve years. I thought about seeing just how in force the staff could be a enforcing the weapons policy, except that was not what I wanted to do. None of these mass had done anything to me and they didn't seem to be doing anything overtly evil as I looked around the room. I saw a couple of Vampires alimentation, but the multitude they were feeding from offered their necks and wrist joint to the vampires in question. So there I continued to sit and essay to resign my net twelve old age with the last twenty dollar bill four time of day. Not an easy task and one that had my ego taking a beating at the way I was used by my witnesser. As much as I wanted to fault it all on the closed book person, I had to take the blame for not researching the targets myself and allowing myself to be used as a arm. I can't severalise you how longsighted I was sitting there in that chairperson, struggling with the rectify solvent to my riddle, but the sun had risen before I finally walked out of the Existence and headed for my hotel.

As I walked down the street, I looked back at the name of the place and found it fitting. It was a property for all those in existence to go and relax without needing to fight senseless war, worry about being killed simply because of who or what you were. It was also a reminder of the Au to reach for ; a passive existence. I still had to go back to see Andrew and discuss what the other pick he was offering. That however could await until the following day as I'd already been up around 40 hours or so now and needed to rest .